Lefevour Fails To Pay Lawyers

Cook County Circuit Judge Richard F. LeFevour, who is drawing his $65,000 salary while on leave to face trial in March on mail fraud and racketeering charges, has yet to pay his lawyers.

LeFevour`s failure to pay his legal fees was one of the reasons cited Monday by attorney Patrick Tuite in his second bid to delay the trial.

Tuite, who is defending LeFevour with Nan Nolan and Cynthia Giacchetti, said the lack of funds was hampering their ability to conduct pretrial investigations and examinations of an estimated 8,000 documents in the case.

In a brief appearance before U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle, Tuite made a second request to continue the trial--set for March 25--until July.

Norgle, who turned down a similar request two weeks ago, refused again and said the fee question was a matter between Tuite and his client.

Tuite said that LeFevour, 53, ``is having difficulties`` getting the money to pay the attorneys, ``and that`s causing us difficulties getting our investigative work done. We`ve never heard of a case this complex getting pushed to trial this soon.``

LeFevour was indicted Nov. 14 on charges of taking $25,000 in bribes and accepting the free use of cars to fix drunken driving cases and more than 2,500 parking tickets.

He is the highest-ranking judge indicted in the nearly four-year-long Operation Greylord investigation of the Cook County court system. LeFevour is the former chief judge of Traffic Court and he stepped down in June as presiding judge of the 1st Municipal District after disclosure of the allegations against him.

Chief Circuit Court Judge Harry Comerford said Tuesday that LeFevour has been on a paid leave of absence since June and is receiving his salary.

Tuite said there had not been any fundraising events for LeFevour, but a letter soliciting funds for his defense had been mailed recently. He declined to identify the letter`s authors.

Former U.S. Atty. Dan Webb told Norgle Tuesday that he would return to prosecute LeFevour only if the trial went ahead in March or shortly thereafter.

He said that if the trial were postponed until summer, his replacement, Anton R. Valukas, would try the case. Valukas is awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate.